Bushwalk Australia

I have been thinking a fun project would be to climb/bushwalk all the named Budawang mountains. Sticking to ones with official names or you would be going for the rest of your life up and down various eminences.

But, how would you define the mountains of the Budawangs? Maybe use road boundaries to the north and south and the plains to the east and west?

And, what would you call the "summit" of the mountain. Mount Tarn, for example, has a spot elevation of 867 m where the words Mount Tarn appear, but there is a 910 metre contour on the far west end. When we walked up Mount Tarn, we went to the 910 metre contour.

re the ""summit" question: Tasmanian peakbagging and Abeling rules are that "you have to touch the very tippy top". This creates some interesting issues; for instance, Mt King William II summit is a very different beast from Richmond Crag, which is the unofficial name of the eight metre higher Mt King William II Abel and at least a kilometre further along the range. My personal rule is simple - when in doubt, climb them all.

Yes, most important question to answer would be, "where are the budawangs?". I think the National Park names themselves can lead to some confusion.
Some markers:
- Mount Budawang - Which is wayyyy down south, about 30-40km away from where most people refer to "the budawangs"
- the Budawang Range - Stretching roughly 60km from Mt Budawang in the south through to Sassafras in the north
- Budawang NP - Contains Mt Budawang and the southern half of the Budawang Range. Doesn't really cover the area which most people refer to "the budawangs".
- Morton NP - Adjoins Budawangs NP, and contains the area which most people refer to "the budawangs" at its southern extent.
- "the Budawangs" - The area with all those interesting cliff formations in which people enjoy bushwalking

Below a little image to illustrate.
- Top red area in roughly where most people refer to "the budawangs"
- Bottom read area is roughly Budawang NP
- Blue marker is Mt Budawang
- Red line is the Budawang Range


Maybe the best resouce would be the classic sketch map "The Northern Budwang Range an the upper Clyde River Valley" by George Elliott - https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232773360/view. I would think that really covers what most people call "the Budawangs", and the key is sort of in the title. Maybe "the Budwangs" is really just "The Northern Budawang Range"

I have downloaded the Budawang Sketch map and will have a look at it.

I have spent part of the morning poring over topographic maps, but that red line of yours that indicates the "Budawang Range" did not jump out at me. It is interesting because the "Budawang Range" does not include the frequently climbed peaks around Monolith Valley or further east to Talaterang.

Allchin09, I think you are probably right that when people think Budawangs they mostly think the plateau-gorge country of the 'Northern Budawang Range'. But I think it's worth including the southern end of the range. So for area, I would say Budawang National Park plus Morton NP south of the Nowra-Nerriga road, so basically the national park areas of the Sketch Map, but running further south to Mt Budawang.

Named peaks only is a good idea but I also think it's worth having an altitude limit. For the Tasmanian Abels I it's >1100m. Obviously that doesn't work for the Budawangs, but taking the same ratio of highest peak to low threshold would give about 770m. That sounds reasonable, but maybe drop it to 720m to include Pigeon House/Didthul?

sandym wrote: It is interesting because the "Budawang Range" does not include the frequently climbed peaks around Monolith Valley or further east to Talaterang.

It appears that the term originates from surveyor Hoddle in the early 1800s, who made some of the first government surveys of the area as part of Major Mitchells map of the 19 counties.

The Geographical Names Register has the following description:

Commmencing between the headwaters of the Clyde and Endrick Rivers this range extends in a generally SSW direction for about 53km to Mt Budawang about 8km SE of Mongarlowe. It consists of mountains and escarpments forming most of the western watershed of the Clyde River.

How much the range as shown on the current topo maps aligns to its original position, I'm not sure of, but it does look like it was used as an adminstrative boundary. I'm guessing it was used as a parish or county boundary many years ago, based on Hoddles survey (and only roughly surveyed) but its location then stays relatively fixed once it is used that way, resulting in the location it current has. They're pretty subjective things anyway when you're in that sort of country.

But yes, any peak with a name on that old sketch map would be my aim

Plus one for the sketch map. I think that defines the Budawangs quite well. I generally don't think of the area on the northern side of braidwood road as 'the Budawangs' since it's in the Ettrema wilderness. To the south I think Currowan ck separates the mountain range quite will making mt Budawang the last mountain south on the actual range.

The names of the parks Morton and Budawangs are not what defines the Budawangs. The old map is closer or may be considered definitive. There is the instragram Budawangs, Budawangs central but unlike Etremma, there is the Southern end that isn't talked about much. I guess the name Budawangs is a general term.

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- "the Budawangs" - The area with all those interesting cliff formations in which people enjoy bushwalking

One interesting Budawangs area with cliffs is Goodsell Ridge and Corang Lagoon but access to thsi area is now uncertain. If you are interested in the access issues for these areas please visit the topic "Private Property Signs on Corang Loop"

Someone has had a crack at a 100 peak list. Shoalhaven more generally rather than narrowly budawangs. There is a short article in the current issue of Wild (#191).

https://www.brettdavis.com.au/thekarens.html

Thanks. Interesting list although I'm not sure I could be *&^%$#@! walking up Conjola Mountain. Sometimes I think these lists would be better focused on aesthetic appeal and/or technical difficulty (although you could make a case that a list using technical difficulty of the easiest route would be quite short) rather than arbitrary height cut-offs. Which is the same for the Abels. Because Geryon, which is a really interesting peak is not an Abel but the highpoint on Du Cane Ridge is. Nevertheless, thanks for the link as it is an interesting concept.

Well, this is a bit of fun
For those who want to quickly view where the Karens are on a topo map, I've uploaded the KML which was supplied onto the Ozultimate NSW Topo web map

https://maps.ozultimate.com/?id=1711158343123

Screenshot of the map below